Improvement in salt-dredges



W. E. HAWKINS. Salt-Dredge,

NQ. 221,061. Patented oct. 2s, 1879.

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UNITED STATES PATENT' OFFICE WESTEL lil. HAW'KINS, OF WALLINGFORD,CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO SIMPSON HALL MILLER 85 GO., OF SAME PLACE.

lMPROVEMENT IN SALT-DREDGES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 221,061,1lated October2S, 1879 application filed September 4, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WEs'rnL E. HAWKrNs, of Wallingford, in the county ofNew Haven and State of Connecticut, have invent-ed anew Improvement inSalt-Dredges, and I do hereby declare the following, when taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of referencemarked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact ldescription ofthe same,which said drawings constitute part of this specification, andrepresent, in

Figure 1, sectional side view, and Fig. 2 under-side view ofthe cap.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of dredges usedfor table-salt, and in which some device is necessary to prevent thesalt from clogging the holes in the top.

The most common and well-known device is the introduction of a loosemetal spindle within the dredge, and which, in shaking the dredge,

` plays from top to bottoni, and constantly striking the top upon theinside, wears upon the metal, and while it agitates the salt Within thedredge, it does not prevent the salt, it" it be f very damp, cloggingthe holes.

The object ot' this invention is to avoid the use of a loose agitatorwithin the dredge, and also to prevent clogging of the holes if the saltbe very damp; and the invention consists in the construction aslhereinafter described, and particularly recited in the claim.

The general outline ot' the bottle or receiver A may be of any of theusual forms immaterial to this invention.

B is a metal cap, fitted to the neck of the bottle, and itsconvex-shaped top perforated in the usual manner, as seen in Fig. 1, andin external appearance does not differ from common and well-known topsfor pepper and salt dredges.

Inside the capv is a partition, O, preferably of the shape of the convexperforated top, but inverted, as seen in Fig. 1, and so as to form achamber in the cap between the top and partition C. Across thispartition is one or more slots, a, two such slots crossing each other,as seen in Fig. 2, attaining the best practical results.

In using the dredge, the mass of salt strikes on the partition; aportion separating from the mass passes into the chamber in. thecap,where it finds an exit through perforations considerably greater intheir combined extent than the slots; hence the quantity passing throughthe slots freely escapes through the perforations in the top without themass crowding behind to press or rest upon the top from the inside. Thiscontact and resting 'of the mass of salt directly upon the perforatedcap is what in fact causes the perforations to clog, and which, by thisconstruction, is entirely avoided.

Another advantage ot' this construction is that the whole device ispermanent and immovable andmade a part of the cap.

I am aware that spice-boxes have been made with a partition below aperforated cap, and perforated corresponding"A to the perforations inthe cap, and therefore make no claim for such construction; but in thisprior constructionvthe perforations increase the difficultieshereinbet'ore described as experienced in saltdredges. Y

The slots in the partition, which are the peculiar characteristic ofthis invention, serve as breakers to crumble the mass ofsalt as it comesin contact with thema result which cannot be attained in a perforatedpartition.

The herein-described salt-dredge, consisting of the cap tted forattachment to the bott-le, and constructed with a perforated topcombined with a partition within the cap below the top, provided withone or more slots, substantially as described.

' W.V E. HAWKINS.

' Witnesses: C. H. BRowN, C. G. PoMERoY.

